India's Asia Cup Triumph: Shafali and Smriti Shine in Victory
On a hot Dubai evening two years after Sri Lanka broke Indian hearts in the 2024 Women’s Asia Cup final, the script flipped.
This time, India batted first, batted big and then strangled the reply. By the 10th over of Sri Lanka’s chase, the contest had lost its suspense, if not its edge.
Shafali and Smriti light up Dubai
India’s decision to bat after Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss was clear in intent: put runs on the board, put pressure on Chamari Athapaththu. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana did the rest.
Smriti set the tone in the very first over, guiding Mithali Ayodhya through backward point for four. Shafali needed an over to find her range, but once Kavisha Dilhari came on, the shackles snapped. A back-foot punch through the covers, a slog sweep over mid-wicket, a couple of streaky twos over the in-field – the mood of the final changed in a handful of deliveries.
Sri Lanka tried spin, pace off, and the experience of Sugandika Kumari. Nothing stuck. Smriti picked off Kumari through mid-wicket, then drove and swept her way into rhythm. At 35 without loss after four overs, India had the platform they had craved in the 2024 decider.
The real surge came when Athapaththu, searching for control, turned to herself. Shafali greeted the Sri Lanka captain with a four and then launched the first six of the innings over long-on. As the over wore on, the Indian opener kept climbing: another boundary, another blow over the ropes, and suddenly she was racing towards yet another T20I half-century.
In the middle of that assault came a worrying moment. Vishmi Gunaratne twisted her ankle in the field, went down, and after on-field treatment was stretchered off. Sri Lanka lost a key top-order batter and a reliable outfielder in one grim passage of play.
India showed no such disruption. The PowerPlay closed at 57 for no loss, a “brilliant” start by any measure, and the openers only accelerated from there.
Twin fifties and a platform of 121/0
Spin from both ends, fielders pushed back, angles changed – still the boundaries came. Chamudi Praboda’s first over disappeared for 12 as Shafali went inside out and then threaded the gap between deep mid-wicket and square leg to move to 47.
Her 21st T20I fifty arrived soon after, a milestone underlining her status as India’s tone-setter in this format. It was also her third half-century of this Asia Cup campaign, and arguably the most important of the lot.
Smriti matched her partner’s fluency. She unfurled the sweep, the inside-out loft over the in-field, and the carved strokes behind square. Against Nilakshi Silva, she brought up India’s hundred with a glorious six, then raised her own fifty with a deft boundary behind square. At 113 for no loss after 11 overs and 121 without loss after 12, India’s openers looked untouchable.
Then, in the space of two overs, Sri Lanka finally found a crack.
Athapaththu, who had been hammered earlier, came back on and immediately shifted the mood. A mix-up after Harman cut to point left Smriti stranded. In a desperate attempt to save her captain, she sacrificed her wicket, run out for 59 off 39 balls. It was a soft dismissal in cricketing terms, but a hard call in leadership terms – the senior opener giving herself up to keep Harmanpreet at the crease.
Shafali had already fallen earlier in the innings (the ball-by-ball feed does not detail her dismissal, but she did not bat beyond the 12-over mark), which meant that in a blink, India’s two set batters were back in the dugout.
Middle-order wobble and a late surge
Harmanpreet and Richa Ghosh were left to rebuild and then launch. For a brief spell, Sri Lanka’s spinners dragged the game back. Dot balls crept in, the field closed, and the boundary rope suddenly felt further away.
Richa broke that lull in style. Against Mithali Ayodhya in the 17th over, she muscled a heave over deep mid-wicket for six, then threaded a four through the off side. The over – 19 runs in all – reignited India’s charge, taking them to 160 for two and setting up what looked like a march towards 190.
Sri Lanka, though, refused to roll over. Athapaththu struck again in the 18th, Richa holing out to extra-cover where Kavisha Dilhari clung on and sent her off with obvious emotion. Deepti Sharma arrived, nudged and scampered, but the real twist came in the 19th.
Mithali returned and produced a superb over under pressure. Harmanpreet miscued to deep mid-wicket for 14 off 14, and two balls later, Deepti was run out attempting a second. Vishmi, back on the field, and Mithali combined to catch her short. Two wickets in the over, momentum checked, Sri Lanka suddenly “finishing strongly”.
At 167 for five with one over left, India needed a final punch. It came from debutant in a final, Gunalan Kamalini, and Bharti Fulmali.
Sugandika took the ball for the 20th. Kamalini whipped across the line for two, then one. Bharti went aerial but couldn’t clear long-on. A thick inside edge then dribbled away for a fortunate four, and with the pressure lifted, India swung freely. The last ball of the innings sailed for six, India closing on a commanding 183 for five – a total that towered over the 165 they had managed in the 2024 final.
Kranti’s roar and Deepti’s chokehold
To defend 183, India needed early wickets. They got one almost instantly.
Kranti Gaud’s first ball of the chase was scooped fine by Imesha Dulani for four, a bold start. Dulani tried the same stroke next ball and lost her leg stump. Kranti celebrated with a fiery send-off that may yet interest the match referee, but in the moment, India had landed a blow: Sri Lanka 6 for one, the chase rattled at birth.
Vishmi, who had already suffered that ankle scare in the field, walked in as if nothing had happened. She and Athapaththu tried to steady, with Nandani Sharma and Kranti keeping things tight. By the end of three overs, Sri Lanka were 14 for one, runs hard-earned and boundaries rare.
Nandani’s discipline kept the lid on. Athapaththu finally broke free with a lofted four over cover, then later slapped through point, but India’s fielding – Harmanpreet chasing, young Kamalini diving at cover – backed up the bowlers.
Shafali, fresh from her exploits with the bat, entered the attack in the fifth over. Athapaththu swung and missed first ball, survived a muted lbw shout, then nailed the next: a flat six over square leg that thudded into the stands. She followed with a lofted four over mid-on, reminding everyone why she has tormented India in the past.
At 33 for one after five and 38 for one after six, Sri Lanka were behind the asking rate but not out of it. The captain was set, Vishmi was fighting, and the memory of 2024 still hung over the contest.
That’s when the pressure really began to squeeze.
Athapaththu fights, then falls
Gunaratne, who had earlier been stretchered off, returned to bat and showed immediate intent. She walked down to Nandani and drove through backward point for four. Against Charani’s left-arm spin, she unveiled a reverse sweep for another boundary, then almost handed the bowler a return catch. A life, a single, and Sri Lanka clung on.
Athapaththu, meanwhile, kept searching for gaps. She cleared mid-off, swivelled to fine leg, and pushed the score along. Yet the asking rate, swollen by India’s top-order assault, kept creeping upwards. At 50 for one after eight and 63 for two after ten, the equation was turning brutal.
Deepti Sharma, as she so often does, applied the choke.
Brought into the attack in the eighth over, she conceded just a single off her first four balls before Athapaththu edged a much-needed four through third. That stroke only delayed the inevitable. In her second over, Deepti drew the Sri Lanka captain out of her crease. Athapaththu charged, swung big, missed, and Richa Ghosh did the rest, whipping off the bails. The scoreboard read 63 for three, the match’s defining wicket claimed by India’s most reliable all-rounder.
Two balls later, Deepti went again. Gunaratne, who had been brave in returning to the middle, tried the sweep once more. This time, she missed and her leg stump lay exposed. The ball crashed into it. From 63 for two, Sri Lanka slumped to 63 for three, and the chase, in truth, never recovered.
India shut the door
Harshitha Samarawickrama walked in with distant memories of her unbeaten 69 in the 2024 final. Here, the situation was far more desperate. Nilakshi Silva tried to rotate, Harshitha looked for the reverse sweep, but India’s spinners had the game on a leash.
By the 11th over, Sri Lanka were 69 for three. Shafali returned, probing at the stumps, and even when inside edges dribbled away for twos, the asking rate ballooned. Harshitha’s sweeps and reverse sweeps fetched only singles. The dots mounted. The fielders hunted in packs.
At 69 for three after 11 overs and 69 for three after 12, with Deepti and company squeezing every angle, the only real question left was the margin.
India, who had watched Sri Lanka canter to a target of 166 two years earlier, had turned the tables. They had batted with intent, fielded with hunger, and bowled with a ruthless clarity of purpose that left Athapaththu’s side chasing shadows.
A final that began with a statement at the toss ended with a different one: this Indian side, reshuffled and refreshed with the likes of Kamalini and Kranti, no longer flinches on Asia’s biggest stage.
Sri Lanka will remember the stretcher, the dropped chances, and the moment their captain stepped out to Deepti and never made it back. India will remember something else entirely – the feeling of walking off in Dubai not as the team that “should have”, but as the one that finally did.
